For doctors, it's
a miracle
.
This is how they refer to the recovery of Leila, the Argentine teenager who two months ago jumped with her twin sister from a third-floor balcony in Sallent, the town in Catalonia where the girls lived with their parents and a younger brother.
The 12-year-old girls
jumped hand in hand
.
Leila suffered numerous injuries and fractures but she survived.
Her twin, Alana, doesn't.
It happened on February 21, when they returned home from the Llobregat de Sallent Public Institute, where they were harassed for speaking "with an Argentine accent."
They were in their first year there and had a hard time
.
For this reason, that Tuesday in February, at the door of the building where they lived at the entrance to the town, they said goodbye to a friend from school with too many hugs.
They left a couple of handwritten letters for their parents, pulled two chairs up to the balcony railing, and jumped.
The sisters who jumped into the void.
Leila suffered serious injuries, but she is recovering favorably.
Alana was very clear about what she wanted, as she wrote: "I want to be happy, but obviously I am going to suffer this for the rest of my life and I made the decision not to
continue
," she said about the bullying that tormented her.
“You know how much I love my sister.
I saw all the bullying she suffers, I'm going to do what she decides.
I am going to accompany her wherever she wants ”, said Leila's little letter that, when she fell,
she would have instinctively put her hands
on her.
However, he arrived at the Parc Taulí hospital in Sabadell, 55 kilometers from Sallent, with
a destroyed lung, a broken jaw and several fractures
.
The twins with their parents and their younger brother.
The family awaits Leila's recovery to return to Argentina.
She remained hospitalized there until March 30, when
she was discharged
.
Today she continues her rehabilitation in another clinic.
Her life is not in danger and the doctors
cannot believe how well she is recovering
after falling from three stories.
Leila's 13 years
The twins' birthday was March 7, 14 days after they jumped into the void.
Leila turned 13 under the effect of sedatives and without knowing it.
But since she opened her eyes,
her health improves day by day
.
In Spain the case is referred to as
"Sallent's twins"
, a tragedy that is becoming a turning point in the Catalan educational system.
As recognized by the Ministry of Education, since Leila and Alana threw themselves off the balcony of their house,
the notices of bullying have tripled
.
Until January 23, the Support Unit for Students in Situations of Violence (USAV) had received calls for 127 possible cases of violence, 46 of which argued bullying.
The twins, in a family photo.
From that date to March 20, there were 241 complaints of violence, of which 125 were for alleged bullying.
In addition, from the next school year -in Spain classes begin in September and end in June-, in all Catalan schools there will be a
"coexistence benchmark"
: a Coexistence and Well-being coordinator who will work on the early detection of violence and bullying in the classroom.
Because at the Llobregat Public Institute
no one contained the anguish and overwhelm that Leila and Alana suffered
.
“From the information we have,
bullying had not been detected
.
Therefore, we cannot say that it existed," the mayor of Sallent, Oriol Ribalta, told
Clarín
the day after the twins jumped into the void.
Flowers and candles in memory of Alana, the twin who died.
Photo @TribunaLibreES
But the police reports prepared by the Mossos d'Esquadra, which are the Catalan police,
confirmed that the girls were victims of bullying
.
Even the president of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, admitted to this newspaper: "A tragic event like this is
a collective failure as a society
."
The investigation, in the hands of the Investigating Court number 5 of Manresa -on duty that February 21-, is advancing.
The place of the tragedy.
Photo @TribunaLibreES
The parents of the girls, Lucas and Maia, have already testified, and the director of the school they attended, Josep Olivella, was also summoned to testify, who will no longer be
in charge of the Llobregat Public Institute
, according to the General Secretary of Education. of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Patrícia Gomà.
Leila improves.
Lucas and Maia hope to be able to travel soon with her and Amadeo, her 10-year-old brother, to Argentina.
They yearn
to return to Mar del Plata
, from where they emigrated three years ago and where their loved ones are waiting for them.
They want the ashes of Alana, the twin who died when she fell from the balcony, to rest in the city where she was born.
Madrid. Correspondent
ACE
look too
The tragedy of the twins in Barcelona: Leila's state of health and how the investigation continues
The Catalan president on the tragedy of the twins: "It is a collective failure as a society"
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